2 Are You Single?

The golden rays of the morning sun filtered through the windows of my busy inn and I found myself lost in the familiarity of my daily routine.

"One order of sausage, fried eggs and orange juice for table ten!" Sofia, one of my waitresses yelled as she zoomed past me to get to the kitchen. "Don't just stand there old man. Help out! This is your business."

"Exactly why I don't need to. I hired you for a reason."

She didn't look like she liked my joke but I very much did.

She threw a rag at my face when she ran out of the kitchen with a tray of food in one hand and another on her head. "Tables. Work. Now."

I threw the rag over my shoulder with a laugh as I walked over to some tables.

"You'd think she was the boss," one of my regulars, Leon, said from his seat beside me.

"She might as well be at this point." I laughed as I leaned on the still dirty table with folded arms, looking down at the young adventurer with a smile. "What brings you to this side of the world this time Leon?"

Leon was a fairly new adventurer from a neighboring country. He'd come by to Estrela Azul from time to time to deal with the kingdom's issues regarding monsters and ended up staying at my inn.

"Alone this time, are ya?" I asked, noticing he didn't have a party for once.

Leon sighed heavily and that was my cue to sit down and listen to one of my guests' worries.

"Only here for a few days. A town up in them hills had a request to deal with a horde of imps messing with their crops. Thought it'd be an easy enough job to get back in the game."

I wrinkled my nose at the thought of those imps. Easy enough creatures to kill but gods their pranks were enough to make you want to die.

"Also finding strong enough party members is a hassle these days, Di. Not to mention we just buried what was left of Timothy."

I felt my features darken at the mention of Leon's long term partner. The boy had only been in his 20s but a stray arrow from some mere goblins had done him in. It was stories like this that added to my list of reasons as to why I quit adventuring years ago.

The only adventure I needed was throwing out old drunks when the bar opened at night or doing the walk of shame after a particularly wild night out.

"I'm still sorry about that, Leon. May he rest in eternal peace."

Leon gave me a tired smile, his youthful face marred with exhaustion.

I almost wanted to tell him to quit the gig, the life of being an adventurer not that worthwhile to spend one's youth on, but I knew that would've just had the boy avoiding his inn altogether. I knew from experience.

"How about this? When that imp business is good and done, come right back down here for a couple of drinks. My treat."

"This is why I love ya, Di!" Leon said with a wide smile and it was enough for me to leave the young man to his breakfast.

"Oi, Di! Is Leon your favorite or something?" a patron yelled from behind Leon's table.

"Yeah! Give us some of your company too! Gotta start my morning right with a story from ya."

"Don't forget! You promised to tell me how Maria got you stumbling down the streets yet again."

"Alright, alright. One at a time, you smelly shits!" I said with a laugh, my patrons smiling up at me and laughing within the fairly big floor. "Buy more of the breakfast special and maybe I'll give ya a story or two."

"Businessman to the core, ya are," someone yelled and the room was filled with laughter.

Yeah, I thought with a big smile on my face. Yeah this is it. This peaceful life is all the adventure I need.

Then the sound of the door's bell rang throughout the floor and I immediately walked over, leaving the noisy patrons to their many different conversations. I was ready to greet my new patron but had to stop in my tracks.

My heart was beating a mile a minute and I couldn't be sure but I think I stopped breathing.

The man-I think it's a man-in front of my door was something out of a fairytale.

He covered his head with a dark hood but his presence was still enthralling enough as is.

Then he took off his hood and I swear to the gods, a more perfect being couldn't have existed.

He was clearly a foreign noble, his black attire screaming wealth. His hair was even darker than his clothes, a large mane full of dark curly tresses that made me think of the moon. Small curls fell against his forehead and framed his smooth face like they were trying to accentuate a work of art and they succeeded. He had smooth dark brown skin, the color of oak, full pouty lips and the deepest brown eyes that made one think of warm hot chocolate.

And by the gods, his body. Tall, slender yet so obviously brimming with power.

I gulped against my will when those cat-like brown eyes settled on me.

"Are there rooms still available in your establishment?"

That's just not fair. You've given him the looks, the status and all. Why'd you have to give him such a sinfully sexy voice as well?

I wanted to run to the back of the building to smash a tree or two to calm my racing heart but I instead painted on my best customer service smile and nodded. I could fake it till I made it but I wasn't risking speaking just yet. I needed to calm myself first.

"I will be staying for a week or so. Is that alright?" the man said, dropping his travel bag and taking off his dark coat and rolling up the sleeves of his white shirt. It revealed his muscular arms and I nearly died.

"Perfectly fine, traveler!" I finally could speak, thank the gods. All I had to do was stare at the sun rays through the windows and nearly blind myself. "Welcome to Silver Moon. Would ya like to eat before going up to your room? The breakfast special from our chef is out of this world, trust me."

The strange nobleman tilted his head to the side and put his hands in his pockets, tired eyes darting across the busy room before stopping in me again.

He responded with a short nod and I led him to a table.

"Excellent!" I sounded overly excited even to my own ears.

Am I blushing? I can feel myself blushing. I'm too old to be blushing like a teenager. Gods he's pretty. Stop it!

After the stranger had taken a seat to the far corner of the room, I said "I'll just take your bag up to your room and get your order out for you in a moment." I need to get out of here.

"Wait."

I stopped in my tracks to turn back at my new customer, smile still in place. It'd never hurt me to smile before but I felt like my face was going to split in two.

"Send someone else for the bag," the man said while leaning back into the chair, hands still in his pocket, and turned to give me that heavy stare of his. "I heard from some passersby that you told stories. Stories of adventures."

Gods above help me! I thought in a panic because there was no way I would've been able to calmly sit with this unholy beauty of a man without embarrassing myself in some way.

"Or…" the man said, removing a hand from his pocket to play with the dangling silver earring on his left ear. "…Are you too busy? If you are, then I apologize for my request."

Why do I feel like I've just made a cat sad?

"Oh not at all!" I'm going to either love this or regret this. "I love boring y'all with my days as an adventurer. Sofia!"

"What?!" I heard her yell all the way from upstairs, her stomps down the stairs nearly making the whole building shake.

"Can't you see I'm busy running your inn?! Swear down, this place would go under without me and—Fuck me sideways, you're hot."

Right?! I didn't say that out loud, thankfully, but smacked the back of her head lightly to appear affronted.

"That's no way to speak around a guest," I said in a mockery of a responsible innkeeper, Sofia's aghast expression subsequently ignored. "I need you to take his bag at the door up to Room 201. It's empty, right?"

"Room 201? Are ya mad? Give him Room 301! It's our best room!"

"I'm fine with whichever."

"No, you're not," Sofia cut off the guest and I've never hated her blunt personality before but it was gonna cost me getting the handsome stranger to come back again. "Someone with that face needs the best room this dingy treehouse has got to offer. Skin that perfect must be preserved."

"Why are you like this?" I muttered, feeling second-hand embarrassment, which was short lived because the ethereal guest had laughed.

It was short and came out more like a huff, but the small smile on his face was enough to sustain me for months on end.

The man rested his chin on the palm of his hand and looked at Sofia with that small smile, his eyes nearly closing as he did so. "Thank you for the compliment, but truly, I am fine with anything. I wouldn't want to put much stress on my host and hostess."

"Are you single?"

"Sofia!"

She merely shrugged at me, the little shit.

"I'm afraid you're rather young for me, my dear," the stranger joked, his smile getting more genuine and I wanted to grab a canvas to paint such an expression and hang it in my room so I could've stared at it whenever I woke up.

Too much? Too much.

"Damn. Never hated being young before," Sofia muttered before turning back to face me. "I'm taking his bag to Room 301. Don't scare him off. I finally have a good reason for staying at this job."

"You stress me out like no other," I whispered to her as I shooed her away.

Turning back to the stranger, that warm, lazy, cat-like expression was now directed at me, smile and all, and I immediately wanted Sofia to come back.

This wasn't good for my old heart.